Blue Lock: I, Ryōsuke Kira, Start With Thunder Breathing

On the familiar vast grassland, Ryōsuke returned to the Competitive Space once again. Whether there was a match or not, he came here every day to practice, never missing a single day.

At this moment, he stared in amazement at the system menu.

— — — — — — — — — —

〚 Host: Ryōsuke Kira 〛

〚 Current Competition Points: 600 〛

〚 Prime Human Tree Skills: 〛

 〚 Skill: Divine Reflection | Level: 2 | EXP: 16.2% 〛

〚 Demon Slayer Tree Skills: 〛

 〚 Skill: Transparent World | Level: 3 | EXP: 32.6% 〛

〚 Thunder Breathing Tree Skills: 〛

 〚 Skill: Thunder Breathing - Total Concentration | Level: 5 | EXP: MAX 〛

 〚 Skill: Thunder Breathing - First Form: Thunderclap and Flash | Level: 5 | EXP: MAX 〛

 〚 Skill: Thunder Breathing - Second Form: Rice Spirit | Level: 5 | EXP: MAX 〛

 〚 Skill: Thunder Breathing - Third Form: Thunder Swarm | Level: 4 | EXP: 85.7% 〛

 〚 Skill: Thunder Breathing - Fourth Form: Distant Thunder | Level: 4 | EXP: 33.1% 〛

 〚 Skill: Thunder Breathing - Fifth Form: Heat Lightning | Level: 2 | EXP: 80.2% 〛

— — — — — — — — — —

After unlocking several Achievements, Ryōsuke's skill upgrading efficiency had improved significantly. One day of practice now equaled what used to take nearly four or five days.

Moreover, the increasing acquisition of Competition Points allowed him to immediately upgrade these skills after maxing out their proficiency.

Now Ryōsuke had unlocked the first five forms of Thunder Breathing, with Thunderclap and Flash and Rice Spirit already at max level. Thunder Swarm and Distant Thunder were also close to Level 5, enabling him to proceed with unlocking new skills.

His gaze continued downward.

— — — — — — — — — —

〚 Skill: Thunder Breathing - Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash | Status: Locked | Cost: 300 Competition Points 〛

— — — — — — — — — —

Without hesitation, Ryōsuke immediately unlocked the Sixth Form skill.

— — — — — — — — — —

〚 Skill: Thunder Breathing - Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash | Level: 1 | EXP: 0% 〛

— — — — — — — — — —

The moment he unlocked it, Ryōsuke felt as if crossing lightning bolts were tearing through the sky in some mysterious realm. Simultaneously, new memories flooded directly into his mind.

"I see." He nodded, gradually understanding how to use this skill, then prepared to try it out, 'Open options interface.'

Ryōsuke said silently in his mind, and a dense menu appeared before his eyes. Without speaking, merely by generating relevant thoughts, the Competitive Space would create suitable training content for him.

"Simulate opponents... confirm..." He quickly made his decision, and several figures appeared beside him.

Adam, Lavinho, Chris — world-class soccer stars who had previously faced off against him appeared at his side.

They were projections generated by the Competitive Space, identical to real people, possessing exactly the same abilities as their originals.

A soccer ball appeared at Ryōsuke's feet.

Ball possession, breakthrough!

Ryōsuke quickly controlled the ball and broke through, diving straight into their encirclement. This time, he didn't use abilities like Thunderclap and Flash or Rice Spirit, but instead raised both hands...

❖ Sixth Form ➠ Rumble and Flash! ❖

Ryōsuke extended his arms, using his upper body movements to maintain a perfect distance from his opponents. Though it appeared to be a very simple upper limb movement, it created extremely comfortable space for him.

This was the Rumble and Flash skill — precise, swift, and powerful hand movements!

Tabito from Blue Lock had similar tactics; his excellent arm distance awareness alone made him one of the core members of the team. Previously, Rin, Sae, and others had also successfully used this technique to get past opponents.

Arm movements could be used not only offensively but also played a crucial role in defensive positioning. Ryōsuke's Rumble and Flash elevated his control over arm movements to a new height — far beyond Tabito and the others.

On offense, these arm movements maintained ample space for himself, while on defense, they could lock down the defender's position and even restrict the opponent's movements.

Moreover, with the enhancement of Total Concentration Breathing, Ryōsuke's arm strength became terrifying, like chains completely locking down opponents. In the Competitive Space, neither Adam nor Chris could break free from his arm restraints.

It could be said that after unlocking this skill, his offensive and defensive capabilities had reached another level.

"Let's continue practicing." Ryōsuke muttered to himself, then immersed himself in practice once again.

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

The next morning, Ryōsuke and Ashito followed Anri and others back to the diving shop. This morning, they would be shooting some local promotional videos.

Overall, the filming went smoothly. Most importantly, Ryōsuke had contacted Chisa in advance before departure, asking her to wake everyone else up — especially to make sure they got dressed.

If Anri and the other staff had arrived at Grand Blue and opened the door to find naked men sprawled everywhere, they would probably have had mental breakdowns.

Although everyone was a bit hungover, the filming generally went well.

"Hey, what's that?"

After the filming ended, Ashito noticed several glasses of water on a nearby table, the brown liquid looking like tea.

"That's oolong tea." Iori answered instinctively.

"Oh, I'm a bit thirsty. May I have a glass?"

"Of course." Iori nodded — but the moment he finished speaking, he realized something was wrong.

That wasn't oolong tea at all, but a strong liquor concocted from vodka and whiskey!

Peek-a-Boo members jokingly called it "oolong tea", and after staying here for a while, Iori had subconsciously come to think of it as actual oolong tea — after all, for them, strong liquor was like plain water.

"Wait, Aoi!"

Before Iori could finish, the very thirsty Ashito had already swallowed the "oolong tea", not even having time to taste it.

"This is..."

Ashito couldn't finish his sentence. He almost immediately lost consciousness and nearly collapsed to the ground.

He had never drunk alcohol before and had an extremely low tolerance!

Iori quickly stepped forward, catching the young man before he fell.

"What happened to Aoi?" Anri, noticing something unusual, asked with concern.

"N-nothing." Iori replied, carrying Ashito on his shoulder with his back to her, "Aoi said he's a bit tired and needs to rest. I'll take him to lie down in the room for a while!"

"Oh, alright." Anri didn't think much of it. She nodded, then turned to look at Ryōsuke, "Kira, the filming is complete. Would you like to return to the hotel together?"

"I think Ashito and I will explore the area on our own." Ryōsuke replied.

Jinpachi had told him earlier that after the commercial activities were completed, he could have some free time — like a long-overdue vacation.

Besides, Ryōsuke had just witnessed exactly what had happened between Ashito and Iori, and he couldn't leave the young man alone here.

"I understand. Then I'll head back to the company first. If you need anything, feel free to contact me anytime! Thank you for your hard work these past few days."

Anri bowed deeply to him, then left with the staff.

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

In the afternoon, Ashito slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh, why did I fall asleep?" He was confused and felt a slight throbbing pain in his head.

"Maybe you didn't rest well enough." Iori answered with an awkward smile.

"What is Kira-senpai doing?"

Everyone turned their gaze toward Ryōsuke, who was currently holding a lighter up to the "oolong tea" on the table.

Out of curiosity, he wanted to conduct an experiment. Unsurprisingly, the "oolong tea" successfully caught fire.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Everyone suddenly fell silent, while Ashito looked on with confusion.

'Strange, is oolong tea flammable? Theoretically, this stuff shouldn't be able to catch fire, right? Maybe it's a regional specialty here?' His mind was filled with questions, but he was too embarrassed to ask out loud, so he could only force himself to accept it.

"By the way, the tennis club president just came by and wants to have a tennis match with us."

At this moment, Shinji and Ryūjirō changed the subject.

"The tennis club? Why do they want to compete with us?"

Iori was puzzled, as was Ryōsuke.

According to the original story, Peek-a-Boo had a conflict with Tinkerbell, the tennis club, during the Spring Festival, and to get revenge, the tennis club later challenged the diving club to a tennis match.

But since the Spring Festival hadn't started yet, logically there shouldn't have been much contact between the two clubs.

"Remember when we were competing for the club representative position? Our diving club beat the tennis club, and they're not happy about it, so they challenged us to a match. If we win, they'll give us a nice sum of money."

"And if we lose?" Iori asked.

"If we lose, you and Kōhei will have to wear girls' school uniforms to the men's competition. Isn't that a great deal? Even if we lose, we don't actually lose anything!"

"What do you mean we don't lose anything?! If we lose, we'll be humiliated on stage!"

"Well, that was our original plan anyway." Shinji replied with a smile.

"…"

Iori and Kōhei fell completely silent, unable to speak a word for a long time.

"Umm..." An idea seemed to form in Ryōsuke's mind as he raised his head to ask, "May I come along too?"

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

Soon, the diving club members arrived at the school's tennis courts.

"Well, you came after all."

In the middle of the court stood a dark-skinned man with a frivolous smile, eyeing the diving club members.

This was Kudō, the tennis club president. With his excellent tennis skills and handsome face, he was extremely popular at school with numerous female fans. However, he was a complete womanizer with an extremely competitive nature.

As the most popular club in the school, the tennis club had failed to become the club representative to work with Blue Lock, which greatly upset him. He already disliked the diving club members, so he organized this match and planned to record the whole thing with the goal of humiliating them.

Having learned about the diving club's schedule with Blue Lock, he knew they would have completed their activities in the morning and assumed the Blue Lock people had already left, which is why he chose this time.

"President Kudō is so handsome!"

In the stands, female tennis club members and other female students shouted his name, acting like complete fangirls.

Among them, Aina Yoshiwara, wearing heavy makeup, sat alone in a corner, looking out of place.

"Hey, diving club guys, I thought you wouldn't dare to show up~" Kudō approached the diving club members, his face full of contempt, clearly not taking them seriously at all.

"Well, we have someone in our diving club who also wants to play tennis, so we accepted. Would you mind having a match with him? He's a beginner who hasn't played much tennis before." Shinji ignored his disdainful expression and spoke calmly.

"Hey, hey, hey, you're sending a beginner? Who do you think you're looking down on? Or are you already accepting defeat and using this as an excuse? I'm one of the key players on the city's tennis team, you know. Don't waste my time."

Kudō maintained a confident smile, as if victory was already in his hands.

"I really don't understand what kind of people would choose to join a tasteless organization like your diving club, and yet somehow you were chosen as the club representative to work with Blue Lock. It seems the Blue Lock people don't have very good taste either. We in the tennis club don't care about that sort of thing anyway." He said, clearly displaying a case of sour grapes.

However, Shinji didn't pay much attention to him, but instead extended his hand, pointing to someone nearby.

"He's the one who will compete with you."

Kudō looked over to see a person wearing a mask and hat, their face completely hidden, seemingly concealing their identity. Suddenly, he had an ominous feeling.

The person removed their mask and hat, revealing their face, and everyone's eyes immediately turned toward them.

"What's wrong? You just said the Blue Lock people don't have good taste, didn't you?" Ryōsuke said with a smile on his face.

❖❖❖

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